The Art of Fandom (Best and Worst of it all)

After the complete and total implosion of the Redskins from opening snap to final whistle last night, I noticed that LeBron James tweeted something about the game. It got me thinking of the different kinds of sports fans there are in the world, and how different they are from each other.

So, here is my list of the best to the worst.

1. The Hometown Fan: This is actually the very best kind of fan. You root for your home team because its where you're from, or where you grew up. When it comes to college teams, a lot of kids spread out but as a youth, they root for the schools their parents are into. That's fine too. Win or Lose, you root for your team. You also KILL them in conversation. But deep down you still love them.
2. The Family Fan: I think of Steeler fans with this. A lot of Steeler fans grew up or have parents from Western, PA. They brought their fandom with them to wherever they live now. I have no beef with that. Steeler Nation has the best traveling fans in the whole NFL. Got to respect that.
3. The Late-Comer Hometown Jerk: You "root" for your home team but only when they are doing well. You don't jump from city to city ever. So, that's a plus....but not much of one.
4. The Spouse-fan: You aren't really into sports, or maybe just a specific sport. But your spouse LOVES a certain team. So, you wear their gear and root for them with your loved one because its a cool thing to do.
5. The Casual New Location Fan: For example, if I moved to Houston tomorrow for the job of a lifetime, the Texans wouldn't become my favorite team. BUT....I would kind of root for them to do well because they aren't a rival of my favorite team, and its good for the town when a team is doing well. This doesn't mean buying your new Andre Johnson jersey over a throwback Russ Grimm. But you don't pass down tickets to see them play.
6. The Reverse-Hometown Fan: This is the same at Middle-Child Syndrome. You go with the rival of your friends and family just to be loud. Its like yelling "Look at me!" at the top on your lungs. I think there are a lot of Cowboy fans in New York, Philly and Washington like this. 
7. The Bandwagon Fan: This is what LeBron is to the core. He grew up in Ohio but rooted for the Cowboys, Bulls and Yankees? Come on dude. When it comes to college, unless you're the fan of say USC Football and then Duke Hoops. In that case if you didn't go to either school, neither did your parents, and maybe you've never been to either campus. You're just a bandwagon fan.
8. The "I swear I've always been a fan of...." fan: You grew up jumping from team to team. Maybe you were into your hometown when they were good. Now you might even root for a rival town because you live there. Usually this comes after a dangerous surgery where you recently had your spine removed and are unable to be a hometown guy anymore. You're also the guy that if the hometown fans of your new team found out, they would never consider you a fellow fan, no matter how much gear you buy.

Homer is a Later-Comer

 I'm not even mentioning the types of fans within those groups. From drunken idiot to Mr. "That's On You!", there are plenty of people who root for the same teams as me...and I still can't stand them. The truth is that when things are going really good, everybody is cool with each other. Its games like last night when you find yourself hating the guy in the row in front of you.....more than usual.